The NPSL does still have a nice clutch of clubs in the Mid-Atlantic, too. So outside of Florida they're pretty solid on the Eastern Seaboard but who knows going forward. It looks like LfC has the momentum though, and the APSL is a thing now, too.
NPSL just lost Hitchcock's Annapolis Blues, the crown jewel of the Mid-Atlantic region, to the USL League 2. "Pretty solid" does not describe this giant hole in the NPSL fan base and political swing away from NPSL given the massive influence and multiplicity of clubs that Hitchcock commands.
You mentioned the Southeast, where there's currently a sizeable hole in the map. The teams from the GCPL' s west division are still mostly unannounced for 2025, as are Florida Roots (competed in the GCPL east last year, but waa in NPSL in '23), and of course New Orleans Jesters. Do you know if that bunch is going to land as a bloc in either league, or be split between them?
From my understanding, a lot of the GCPL West will keep as GCPL, almost a reforming of LPL from back in the mid 2010's. Most of those clubs don't really have the money or players for NPSL. Jesters, I'd imagine, would just join up with the Lone Star Conference or a kneecapped Sunshine Conference. The owner doesn't want to move away from NPSL, but also probably doesn't have the money for the potentially thousands of miles of travel.
This has really been my assumption as well, but the slow drip of announced teams from LfC has made me wonder what the holdup is. From a geographic perspective, New Orleans should be in that mix. But the politics of that are probably impossible.
The NPSL does still have a nice clutch of clubs in the Mid-Atlantic, too. So outside of Florida they're pretty solid on the Eastern Seaboard but who knows going forward. It looks like LfC has the momentum though, and the APSL is a thing now, too.
NPSL just lost Hitchcock's Annapolis Blues, the crown jewel of the Mid-Atlantic region, to the USL League 2. "Pretty solid" does not describe this giant hole in the NPSL fan base and political swing away from NPSL given the massive influence and multiplicity of clubs that Hitchcock commands.
You mentioned the Southeast, where there's currently a sizeable hole in the map. The teams from the GCPL' s west division are still mostly unannounced for 2025, as are Florida Roots (competed in the GCPL east last year, but waa in NPSL in '23), and of course New Orleans Jesters. Do you know if that bunch is going to land as a bloc in either league, or be split between them?
From my understanding, a lot of the GCPL West will keep as GCPL, almost a reforming of LPL from back in the mid 2010's. Most of those clubs don't really have the money or players for NPSL. Jesters, I'd imagine, would just join up with the Lone Star Conference or a kneecapped Sunshine Conference. The owner doesn't want to move away from NPSL, but also probably doesn't have the money for the potentially thousands of miles of travel.
This has really been my assumption as well, but the slow drip of announced teams from LfC has made me wonder what the holdup is. From a geographic perspective, New Orleans should be in that mix. But the politics of that are probably impossible.